Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti doesn’t want to see supervised injection sites in neighbourhoods — only in pharmacies located in hospitals.

The outspoken York West (Ward 7) councillor weighed in on the report Dr. David McKeown, Toronto’s chief medical officer of health, plans to unveil Monday morning which calls for the creation of up to five safe-injection clinics in the city.

“There’s only one safe-injection site and that should be our pharmacies,” Mammoliti insisted Sunday. “We should not have these sites in any one community and it should not be advertised that way. They shouldn’t be front and centre.”

The report, spawned by the rising number of drug overdose deaths, recommends that safe-injection sites be housed in clinics or health-care centres that already offer harm reduction programs to drug addicts, such as clean-needle exchanges.

In 2003, Vancouver opened InSite, Canada’s first supervised injection site in its struggling downtown east-side neighbourhood. Montreal has also committed to establishing similar sites and is waiting for required approval from the federal government.

“If you want to use Vancouver’s model, you must talk to the people who live in Vancouver around that model because they complain about it,” Mammoliti said. “They don’t like people loitering. It stops legitimate businesses from moving into those communities, so you’re not going to get even a McDonald’s franchise or another decent type of restaurant moving into next door to one of these places.”

But Landon Hoyt, the executive director of Vancouver’s Hastings Crossing BIA where InSite is located, countered hosting a safe-injection site hasn’t hurt business and in some ways, created a safer neighbourhood.

“There hasn’t been any opposition from the business community about it, even from the nearby BIAs as well,” he said. “I don’t think there have been any vacancies because of it. It’s always been a struggling block.

“The site has been there for over 10 years,” he added. “People who are coming into InSite have the opportunity to be given safe and clean needles and rehabilitation. That’s huge and has brought a lot of (that culture) off the streets. And what business could be unhappy about that?”

In 2013, Mayor John Tory said on the radio show he hosted at the time that his position on injection sites had “moderated — not to the point where I’m sort of totally comfortable saying, ‘Yeah, sure’ but I now recognize all those things ... of practicality ... I’m sort of less squeamish, but still bothered.”

Tory said Sunday he would review McKeown’s report before making a judgement.

“I learn by going to see some of the harm reduction programs we have in Toronto now, that those perform a useful role when it comes to public health and public safety,” he said.

“This report is going to come out suggesting another thing Toronto should do. I’m going to be very interested to read the report and hear the discussion.”

Vancouver’s InSite, the first supervised injection site to open in Canada — in 2003 — provides a place for drug addicts to safely shoot up under supervision. (Source: InSite)

•There is a front line team of nurses, counsellors, mental health workers and peer support workers onsite.

•InSite has 13 injection booths where clients inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of nurses and health-care staff.

•The facility also supplies clean injection equipment such as syringes, cookers, filters, water and tourniquets. If an overdose occurs, the team, led by a nurse, intervene immediately.

•Nurses also provide other health-care services, such as wound care and immunizations.

•Although there have been 1,418 overdoses at InSite between 2004 and 2010, staff were able to successfully intervene each time.

•There has never been a fatality at InSite since opening. Since the safe-injection site opened, overdoses in the area decreased by 35% — compared to a 9% decrease in the city overall.

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Safe-injection sites bad for business: Mammoliti

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti doesn’t want to see supervised injection sites in neighbourhoods — only in pharmacies located in hospitals.

The outspoken York West (Ward 7) councillor weighed in on the report Dr. David McKeown, Toronto’s chief medical officer of health, plans to unveil Monday morning which calls for the creation of up to five safe-injection clinics in the city.

“There’s only one safe-injection site and that should be our pharmacies,” Mammoliti insisted Sunday. “We should not have these sites in any one community and it should not be advertised that way. They shouldn’t be front and centre.”

The report, spawned by the rising number of drug overdose deaths, recommends that safe-injection sites be housed in clinics or health-care centres that already offer harm reduction programs to drug addicts, such as clean-needle exchanges.